


What Am I?

by HomeForImaginaryFriends



Series: IwaDai Week 2017 [4]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demons, Alternate Universe - Magic, Demons, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, M/M, Magic-Users
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-18
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-12-16 19:40:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11835672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomeForImaginaryFriends/pseuds/HomeForImaginaryFriends
Summary: Sawamura attempts to rescue a dying Iwaizumi from a demon.





	What Am I?

 

  
  
  
  


Sawamura struggled with the webs surrounding Iwaizumi.  He could hear the battle raging on outside, could hear his friends shouting to another, a blast of heat that shook the little cottage.  Sawamura’s wasn’t use to fighting.  He owned a flower and herb shop, he tended to his vast garden, and his powers were routed in the earth.  He had never fought monsters or even had a drunken pub fight like so many of his friends.  Yet there he was, fighting his way through thick webs to get to a man he had only known as a spectre for a week while his friends raged war on a spider-demon, bloated on power that she had been slowly consuming from Iwaizumi.

 

“Sawamura it’s not working and they are losing out there, you need to get out of here.”  Iwaizumi’s projection pleaded once more with Sawamura but he knew there was no coming back after this.  Iwaizumi had appeared in Sawamura’s shop and he had looked almost human, except for his ability to walk through solid objects.  All he had known about himself was his name, Iwaizumi.

 

Sawamura had thought the other man must be a ghost, a confused one who hadn’t realized they were dead because Iwaizumi insisted he wasn’t.  Sawamura wasn’t a necromancer or a dark mage, he never could nor wanted to send Iwaizumi away so he let the other hang around his shop.  Even though Iwaizumi could remember nothing of his life he was still rather good company.  He seemed to instinctively know about the different plants that grew around Sawamura’s shop and home, was helpful even though he couldn’t actually do much of anything.

 

A week wasn’t enough time to love someone, but Sawamura had to admit that Iwaizumi was the type of man Sawamura could love.  If he wasn’t dead, which Sawamura was still convinced he was.

 

But then Iwaizumi started to become more transparent and on top of that, he looked sickly.  Ghosts didn’t get illnesses, it was about the one upside to being dead.

 

Kuroo, a cat demon who had a tendency to show up unannounced, eat all the food in Sawamura’s house, and disappear as quickly as he stormed in.  Kuroo had said that Iwaizumi wasn’t a ghost, he was projecting his soul, but by the looks of it Iwaizumi was on his way to becoming those counted amongst the undead.  Sawamura couldn’t stand idly by and let Iwaizumi die.

 

Sawamura had asked a favor of Sugawara and Kiyoko, who had insisted on coming along when realizing where Iwaizumi was being kept.  Sometime the past week Iwaizumi had been tricked by a Jorogumo, a spider-demon, who had put Iwaizumi into a deep sleep and was feeding off of him very slowly.

 

Now Sugawara, Kiyoko, Kuroo, Azumane, and Nishinoya were all fighting the Yokai while Sawamura was given the task of freeing Iwaizumi’s body.  Which wasn’t going well until Sawamura realized he was still wearing his apron from work, which held his gardening shears.

 

Sawamura began cutting away at the web, glad when the sharp steel easily sliced through it.  Sawamura could make out Iwaizumi’s prone body, lying so very still on the ground and far too pale to be healthy.  Iwaizumi’s projection had shown up a week ago, darkly tanned with vibrant green eyes.  Sawamura had been hanging up some herb to dry it out when Iwaizumi appeared, and Sawamura’s usually strong and sturdy hands had suddenly gone nerveless, dropping the herbs onto the floor.

 

Something shook the house, an outraged scream followed.

 

Sawamura picked up Iwaizumi’s prone form, tossing him over his shoulder like a bag of grain before making his way out of the cottage.  Sawamura thought it would be a nice homey place if it weren’t for all the dark energy and the spider webs covering every inch of the place.

 

“Sawamura!”  Iwaizumi’s warning had Sawamura rolling for the ground, cringing as he dropped the body he was holding as something blew over the top of him.  Sawamura looked up to see the yokai drop heavily to the ground.

 

The Jorogumo looked like a nightmare version of a centaur.  From the hips up was the body of a beautiful woman, pale with long black hair and very nude.  Her arms reached out towards Iwaizumi, a mournful sound leaving her mouth and Sawamura nearly handed the body back over, almost let himself get lost in that sound, in those pitch-black eyes.

 

But green eyes distracted him and Sawamura pulled Iwaizumi to himself protectively, curling his arms around the unconscious man and glaring at the yokai.  She screamed, mouth splitting open to reveal two pincers, the bottom half of her was a spiders body.  The legs shifted from one side to the other, constantly moving, skittering around as the human top weaved one way then the other.

 

“He belongs to me.”  Her voice was a high pitched hiss, she moved towards Sawamura who knew he stood no chance against the demon.  

 

“A wager!”  Sawamura shouted, heart pounding loudly in his ears.  The Jorogumo stopped her forward movement, though her body never really stopped moving.

 

“A bet?”  She questioned, body tilting as if to emphasis her confusion.  The Jorogumo wasn’t the first demon Sawamura had crossed paths with.  Kuroo had tried to kill him on their first meeting until Sawamura had offered up a wager.  Sawamura didn’t know much about demons, but he was glad it seemed universal that they couldn’t pass up a good bet.  Now Sawamura just had to make it worth her not just attacking him right then and there.

 

“Yes.  If you win you get Iwaizumi but you also get me.”  Sawamura offered.  The yokai skittered back and forth, her movements erratic as if she was excited over the prospect.  Sawamura might not be a combat mage but the earth's magic ran deep, and it was ancient.  He would make a rather good meal and the demon knew it.  “But if I win then you leave, without hurting anyone.”  The demon hissed in annoyance.

 

“Seven riddles.”  The yokai offered.

 

“Three.”  Sawamura countered though he was already dismayed.  He had no skills with riddles, that was more Sugawara and Kuroo’s expertise.

 

“Five.”  Sawamura nodded his head slowly in agreement.  A scroll appeared out of the air, on it the written agreement.  Sawamura read it over, careful to make sure the yokai couldn’t find any loopholes.  He pulled his magic close to him before cutting his finger with his shears and smearing it against the bottom of the scroll.  The scroll floated over to the Jorogumo, who used her ichor to make it binding.

 

“First riddle,” The yokai hissed, spindly legs digging into the earth.  “I can only live where there is light, but I die if the light shines on me.  What am I?”  Out of the corner of his eye Sawamura saw Nishinoya stumble around the side of the cottage.  Nishinoya was a minor God so it was no big surprise that he had healed the fastest, though he didn’t look up for another round with the yokai any time soon.

 

“A shadow.”  Sawamura answered, staring at the shadow from the cottage that Nishinoya stood in.

 

“Correct.”  The yokai stepped closer.  Sawamura pulled Iwaizumi to his chest, made sure he could still feel the others heartbeat even though it was far too slow and weak to be very reassuring.  His projection had disappeared.  “Give me food and I will live.  Give me water and I will die.  What am I?”

 

“Fire.”  Sawamura almost laughed in relief because he had overheard that one before.  Kuroo liked to forever tease the Knight who showed up sporadically to Sawamura’s shop, Bokuto and he was always trying to trick Bokuto into a date.  Bokuto had learned to be very good at riddles.

 

“We hurt without moving.  We poison without touching.  We bear the truth and the lies.  We are not to be judged by our size.  What are we?”  Sawamura’s heart dropped.  He curled his fingers into Iwaizumi’s spiky hair, tried to get his brain to work damnit.  The demon let out a hissing-cackling laugh as she scuttled forward once more.

 

Sugawara rounded the corner with Kiyoko, hauling a bleeding Azumane between them.  But it mattered very little if they were there now, the deal had been struck, a bargain made.  They couldn’t help Sawamura anymore.  If they said anything-

 

“Words!”  Sawamura suddenly shouted, causing the demon to jerk back, her many legs twitching in irritation.

 

“The more there is, the less you see.  What am I?”  Kuroo stumbled into view finally, fully transformed into his demon form.  A huge monstrous form that vaguely resembled a cat.  The shadow of the cottage seemed to swallow him up, almost making him disappear from view.

 

“Darkness,” Sawamura whispered.  “It’s darkness!”  Sawamura pressed his lips against Iwaizumi’s clammy forehead.  He wanted to know Iwaizumi, who the man was and why he was so far removed from civilisation.  A huge farm spread out to the back of the cottage and Sawamura suspected he was an Earth mage also, but he wanted to hear that from Iwaizumi.  He wanted to know about his life and what type of flower was his favorite, then Sawamura would show up with those flowers and ask Iwaizumi to dinner.

 

He just wanted them both to live.

 

“I am a mother and a father, but have never given birth.  I’m rarely still, but I never wander. What am I?”  The demon loomed over them, pincers clicking insistently as if sensing a new meal.

 

Sawamura looked down at Iwaizumi, who’s eyes were opened the barest amount.  Sawamura could still see the green in them, green just like the leafs of the small sapling that swayed gently in the breeze.  Iwaizumi must have just planted it for it was just a small thing, but under the care of a skilled earth mage it would grow strong.

 

“Tree, you’re a tree.”  Sawamura breathed out, barely above a whisper because he was so afraid of getting it wrong.

 

“No!”  The Yokai screamed, unnatural body twisting in anger.  “My meal!  He’s my meal!  Mine!”  The demon surged forward but it couldn’t move, it’s legs were swallowed up by the ground.  “What have you done?”

 

“You broke the bet.”  She tried to take Iwaizumi even though she had lost.  They had signed in blood, hers in ichor.  The rules of the wager were clear.

 

“No!”  The Jorogumo screeched but it was too late.  The ground grew around her, twisting up and covering her whole until there was a thick trunk where the demon had been.  Long branches grew outwards before small pink blooms popped up all over it.  A beautiful, towering cherry blossom tree stood where the demon had once occupied.

 

Sawamura heard his friends cheering in the background, lighting struck through the sky as Nishinoya got too excited.  Sugawara complained that Kuroo was too large to try and be a lap cat.  But Sawamura only had eyes for the man held close to his chest.

 

Sawamura watched as color slowly returned to Iwaizumi’s face.  His eyes opened wider, staring up at Sawamura in confusion.

 

“Sawamura?”  Iwaizumi asked, as if the name came to him through a great fog.  Sawamura suspected the other man would need a couple days to recover from his ordeal but the important part was that he would recover.

 

“Hello.”  Sawamura couldn’t help the smile that overcame his face.  Iwaizumi returned it slowly before reaching up to gently cup Sawamura’s face.

 

“Hello.”  Iwaizumi repeated before they were both laughing, Sawamura leaning down to rest his forehead against Iwaizumi, who let his hand slide to the back of Sawamura’s neck, carefully tangling his fingers into the hair he found there.

 

“Hello.”  Sawamura whispered once more.

**Author's Note:**

> IwaDai Week  
> Day 4: 17th August - Nature
> 
> thatishogwash.tumblr.com


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